Seneca sends eight to day two of state wrestling

Thursday

Feb 14, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Seneca Indians completed the first day of the 2013 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday with eight of their nine qualifiers still alive, and sit in fifth place in the team scores with 22 points.

By Levi Payton

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Seneca Indians completed the first day of the 2013 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday with eight of their nine qualifiers still alive, and sit in fifth place in the team scores with 22 points.

After one day, the Indians sit behind Brookfield (30.5), Whitfield (28), Blair Oaks (24) and Herculaneum (23) in team results.

Individually, Will Roark, Cole Lankford, Jesse Rhoades, Jalen Skaggs and Jeff Butler all advanced in the winners bracket with first-round victories. Also advancing after losing their first matches and winning in wrestlebacks are Quentin Cotten, Ryker Skelton and Devin Madison.

At 120 pounds, Roark, ranked No. 1 in the class, scored a major decision over No. 8 Reid Steiner of Maysville, 9-1. Lankford (126) made short work of Herculaneum's Jesse O'Dell, dispatching him by pin in 1:58.

In one of the more exciting matches of the morning, Rhoades scored a 10-8 decision over Robert Querry of Plattsburg , 10-8, at 132 pounds. Skaggs grabbed a 7-0 decision over Thomas Mack (Trenton) at 160. Butler had little trouble with Shane Reisen (Principia) at 182, as he rolled to a 12-6 victory.

Cotten, saddled with wrestling one of the first matches of the day at 113 pounds, was pinned by Caleb Osborn (Lathrop) in 36 seconds of the first round, before bouncing back in wrestlebacks to dominate Kohl Bounds (Albany) with a pin in 28 seconds. Skelton was also pinned in his first match at 170 pounds, losing to Andrew McLaughlin (Whitfield) in 1:10. Skelton responded by pinning Gage Franklin (Lawson) in 1:43 in wrestlebacks.

After falling by pin to Josh Riggs (Pattonville) 4:53 in his first match at 220, Devin Madison, like Skelton and Cotten before him, won by pin on his second try, besting Alex Patton (Marysville) in 4:24. Seneca's Dylan West (195) was the only Indian who failed to advance past the first day as he fell in a decision to Justin Hicks (Polo), 12-10, and by pin to Kolby Reeder (Penney) in 15 seconds.

It wasn't a perfect day, and it's still early, but Indians coach Jeff Sill said he was pleased with the performance."Overall, I thought we did OK," Sill said. "We got through some first matches and advanced eight out of nine. The more we can keep in it, the better we are as a team. Right now, we've just got to keep plugging along. We're going into (Friday) taking it one match at a time, and we'll let that dictate our success."

Diamond's Jordan Douglas will also advance to Friday after winning his match at 145 pounds with a pin over Ben Glenn (Tarkio) in 2:35.